


Datastream

by orphan_account



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 09:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17681261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Swindle very regretfully quit recording—as soon as he could figure out a way to cover his trail, he was gonna make a killing on this datastream—and carefully edged very very quietly back from the door and headed back to the access shaft." - Excessively Clever, by Astolat





	Datastream

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Excessively Clever](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17612081) by [astolat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astolat/pseuds/astolat). 



> I'm not actually in this fandom, I just got dragged here by astolat. Sorry for any massive gaping errors.

So there was the good news, and the bad news.

The good news was that the initial week of fighting went like a dream, the most optimistic possible playing out of events that Optimus and Megatron could have imagined.

The Solaris Confederation did indeed send a dreadnought-- two, actually, and hadn't that been a moment of gear-grinding terror-- but they clearly weren't actually taking very seriously the threat of a single slave rebellion, if that was the caliber of captain they sent with it. They were able to separate them, and then after taking down the first dreadnought with some heavy damage the second dreadnought surrendered, barely harmed. So they had two, now, one rapidly being repaired to battle-readiness and one already holding the perimeter.

They had even bought some additional time by having the surrendered pilot return totally falsified reports of his military success (overseen by Soundwave), during which time most of the reinforcements arrived, to rapidly be given Trinium upgrades. Almost half of the 'bots and cons had been upgraded already, and even though two-thirds of the mine had been immediately closed down for safety, the Neraadi were still pulling usable trinium out of the least bad shafts.

Obviously the lull hadn't lasted, but they were in appreciably better shape for fighting when the first of the escaped slaves went public on the Nets and the charade came tumbling down.

The bad news was that the furious and humiliated Solaris Confederation immediately called in two mutual alliance agreements with the Ghennix Sector and the Asteer, so now they were facing a three-pronged war and desperately needed allies.

The Pelinor Federation had been perfectly willing to trade refined-grade trinium for defense satellites, but they were not willing to adopt anything but a neutral stance. Optimus and Megatron had both reached out to nations, planets, and galactic federations with reason to look forward to taking down the Confederation. After the hemming and hawing, it kept boiling down to one thing-- no one trusted the alliance between the Autobots and the Decepticons. They'd been fighting for millennia. They would return to fighting any day now, and when they did, anyone who'd stuck their neck out against the Confederation was going to pay for it.

And it wasn't just outsiders having a crisis of confidence.

Optimus had anticipated that it would take some convincing to bring the rest of the Autobots on board. It wasn't like he hadn't had advance warning, given Bumblebee's reaction. But he hadn't anticipated, a month into their revolt, grimly holding on to the planet by the skin of their teeth, to still be having confrontations on the topic multiple times a day. Ironhide had gone along immediately, of course, and he was helping hold the tide, but the faction arguing for abandoning the planet and fleeing before the Decepticons inevitably unveiled whatever backstabbing plan they had in the works was growing stronger, and at some point Optimus wasn't going to be able to ignore the consensus of his followers.

Megatron had it easier, he thought. Some of the Decepticons had been pretty obviously shocked by the alliance announcement, especially once they arrived expecting a double-cross and not finding one. But none of them had actually said anything, except for Starscream. Optimus hadn't seen what Megatron did to Starscream afterwards, but Starscream raised no further objections.

Optimus and Megatron had tried making joint appeals, to grant some more confidence in the solidity of their partnership, but still the enormous tripartite fleet the Solaris Confederation had raised drew closer, and they couldn't hold the defenses against _that_ for more than two weeks, trinium reinforced armor or not.

* * *

 

...And then, abruptly, things took a turn for the better.

They had held off admirably well against the first wave of onslaught, which the Solaris Confederation so considerately broadcast in order to "showcase the fate of those that oppose us", so initially Optimus assumed the sudden renewed interest of their potential allies was due to that.

This didn't explain why he was no longer being accosted in the hallways, though. Why, in fact, several Autobots had acquired a habit of hurriedly averting their eyes and steaming suspiciously at the joints when he approached them. Also, he thought he'd caught one or two of the Decepticons leering at him, which was puzzling.

And then they started to get offers from entities they hadn't thought to reach out to for help. Elebeta had been particularly unexpected, and their offer of "three carrier ships with laser shielding, in the hopes you may be inspired to collaborate with us in the future" had been delivered with what Optimus was pretty sure was the equivalent of a wink from the seven-eyed stick-like alien that had conveyed it to them. Elebeta was a resort planet that ran leisure programs, and while the Solaris Confederation _had_ been running a tariff blockade against them they were not the kind of ally Optimus had at all anticipated.

He raised his concerns with Megatron, later. Well, once his conscious processing unit was back online. Megatron was looking extremely satisfied with himself, a look Optimus was forced to admit he found rather appealing, when it wasn't coming in the aftermath of a humiliating defeat in battle. It was becoming a disconcertingly long list, what he found attractive about Megatron.

"I'll look into it," Megatron said. He was doing that thing where he simply traced a hand over Optimus's front, barely touching. "We haven't been able to have proper time together in a week," he added, scowling. "The sooner this war is over, the better".

Optimus fought back a shiver.

The thing about Megatron, he had discovered, was: Sure, he felt no need to keep promises. A promise was simply part of a deal, and the deal was the game you played to get what you wanted.

(Their arguments about the value of integrity and honor kept ending in... not-arguments. Optimus just found it very hard to concentrate these days when Megatron started to get worked up about something, and was forced to comfort himself with the evidence that Megatron was suffering from the same problem.)

The point was, promises. Promises were not Megatron's thing.

But _goals_. Megatron never declared a goal without intending to pursue it, 100% to the fullest. Optimus had Swindle to thank for the idea-- and what a bizarre thought that was-- but he'd gone and searched through archives of Megatron's speeches and every single goal Megatron had publicly declared, he'd accounted for. They were all fulfilled.

And now Megatron wasn't promising anything, but he's made it quite clear his goal was to get them up to a frequency of once per day at least. And he'd accomplished every other goal he'd set his mind to, before, because he was... relentless, and determined, and...

Optimus moaned, aware that indicator lights that should have been thoroughly burnt out by now were starting to light up again. Megatron's hand had stilled, and he was watching intently in that way he had.

"Oh, alright," Optimus said. He'd have the meeting with Ironhide and Ratchet later.

* * *

 

It turned out the Neraadi had a generations-old friendship-- well, everything with the Neraadi was generations-old, but this was in the "millenia" category of old-- with the Sluzarain, who didn't make any pronouncements on the Nets whatsoever but showed up, silently and en masse, to provide reinforcements.

The tide was beginning to turn-- the Solaris Federation hadn't noticed yet, were still loudly declaring victory every other day. But the defense perimeter for the planet had grown to include two wormholes and the three planets beyond them.

They had started out with almost nothing, the Federation with everything. Megatron's plans were starting to be in terms of galaxies. They were winning, and those smart enough to recognize it were beginning to switch sides.

That was what Optimus was thinking about, when he answered Megatron's ping and entered his quarters.

"I found it," Megatron said, instead.

"What?" Optimus said.

"You asked me to look into the change in troop and ally demeanor," Megatron said. "I found it."

He held out-- a datachip, Optimus said.

"It was very well scrubbed," Megatron said, as he inserted the chip into a projector, where it began to play back. "Whoever took it did not want it traced back to them."

Optimus vaguely heard him over the sound of his own motors beginning to overheat. It was embarrassment, he was sure. Well, mostly sure. There-- there definitely was embarrassment involved.

It was remarkably high quality video.

Megatron had paused, and he continued to stay silent while Optimus watched the entire clip through once.

"Oh, Primus," Optimus said, faintly, when the playback ceased. Many things were beginning to make sense, now.

"There was a limited set of candidates for who could have taken it, however," Megatron continued. "At this point I am quite confident who the culprit was."

Optimus was remembering his own bewilderment at what he'd, at the time, considered one of the more unhinged of the Solaris Confederation's pronouncements, something about "disgusting and obscene propaganda". The timing was right, he thought. And oh, Elebeta, they also produced _sims_ , didn't they.

"I can have disciplinary action taken, if you'd like," Megatron said.

What would it help? Optimus thought. Their images were all over the universe now. Primus, he didn't know he'd _sounded_ like that.

"Optimus," Megatron said. Almost gentle. It snapped him out of the loop of his own thoughts. Optimus looked up at him.

"I can kill him for you," Megatron said.

"W-What? No!" Optimus said. Megatron's offer was entirely sincere, he could tell. "No, no, this-- Look, it's not that bad," he insisted, trying to calm Megatron down. "I mean, really it helped us, when we needed it, and-- and it's not like-- we don't look _bad_ ," he said, voice trailing off a little in embarrassment.

"You looked-- and look-- spectacular," Megatron said, in the flat tone of a pronouncement.

"I. Well. Ah." Optimus said, helpfully.

Megatron sighed. "Well, if you're sure. In that case, I suppose I'll give him a promotion. He'll find that suffering enough, and maybe reason to think twice before trying anything clever next time."

"...Thank you?" Optimus said.

"Stay here," Megatron said, gesturing at a space beside him. Optimus hesitated, then sat down.

Megatron rewound the video, and began watching it again.


End file.
